


The Yellow String Theory

by kogimika53



Series: Strings of Fate [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2018-11-16 14:39:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11255004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kogimika53/pseuds/kogimika53
Summary: Meeting Bokuto Koutarou was like eating a sour gummy; sour and disgustingly cringey, but ultimately sweet and savoury and worth the sourness. He was the peanut butter to Kuroo's jelly, the Phineas to his Ferb, the Finn to his Jake. True, their first meeting at the joint Fukurodani Academy Group training camp in first year had been perhaps the tackiest, shittiest first meeting in the history of platonic soulmates and Bokuto had accidentally broken Kuroo's nose in one of their matches, but that very night after all the practice had ended, Bokuto had approached Kuroo, hand outstretched and a peace offering of grilled salted mackerel pike in the other in a gesture of friendship. Touched, Kuroo accepted the plate and from that moment the two of them were the memest memes there ever were (to be fair an Oikawa Tooru of Aoba Johsai once argued in second year that his teammates "Mattsun and Makki" were "memerer" than he and Bo, but Oikawa was no good judge of memers and so that comment was dismissed airily with a wave of a hand and a not-so accidental slap to the pretty boy's face).





	1. "It's basically to date, but as bros."

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Red String Theory](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10597791) by [kogimika53](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kogimika53/pseuds/kogimika53). 



> I've decided to change the direction of the series and work on various ships + different-coloured strings and their meanings. To readers who enjoyed the Red String Theory and want to see more MatsuHana, fret not - our dear school OTP will be back in the next work after this one - though not exactly the star of the third story.
> 
> Anyway, as you might know from other similar works, the red string is often symbolic of romantic love. The yellow string would represent platonic friendship, since yellow is the representative colour of friendship and loyalty, etc. etc. This may not be as good as TRST - after all, the originals are usually the best - nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this work.

Kuroo Tetsurou never gave a rat's ass about the red string theory.

On the other hand, he  _was_ an ardent believer of the yellow string theory.

Yes, he was aware that at times it could get  ~~fucking~~  mildly annoying that, unlike in the case of the red string theory, one could be linked to anywhere from one to a thousand fucking million platonic soulmates and that his "OCD-ness" (taking into consideration that he was at birth diagnosed a perfectly healthy albeit very ugly baby for his age) often resulted in his never-ending exasperation over his yellow strings being tangled up, supported by the fact that despite their relatively solid appearance they were intangible and physically non-existent which meant he had no way to undo them whatsoever. To be fair, however, he only had two yellow strings and one red one, so he had no right to complain ("besides," Bokuto Koutarou had once chirped as he ground his teeth unnecessarily, obnoxiously loudly on a stick of takeaway yakiniku, "some people - I, for one - deal with a fuck ton of strings. Thank the heavens they're virtual strings; world war III would be inaugurated over the simple conflict of tangled strings and undoable knots."), but it still disturbed him at times.

Nevertheless, he was a strong advocate for the existence of the yellow string theory. The platonic soulmates to whom his yellow strings were attached to, Kozume Kenma and Bokuto Koutarou, were undoubtedly two of his closest confidants and cronies in the whole universe. Kenma was a given, seeing that fate (if there was any sort of divine, celestial being manipulating the strings of fate) obviously intended for the two of them to be together; their mothers were childhood friends and neighbours, so they'd practically known each other since they were in pampers and diapers - considering that Kuroo, as a one-year-old, undeniably still a very ugly baby, was brought to the bedside of Kozume Kohaku and her newborn, newly-christened son Kenma, who was undoubtedly a prettier baby than Kuroo (to which Kohaku gleefully crowed at Natsumi over, prompting the latter's protests that "my Tetsu-kun will grow up to be the hottest piece of ass you've seen and he'll get his soulmate before your dear Kenma does"), and thenceforth acquainted with his best friend.

Meeting Bokuto Koutarou was like eating a sour gummy; sour and disgustingly cringey, but ultimately sweet and savoury and worth the sourness. He was the peanut butter to Kuroo's jelly, the Phineas to his Ferb, the Finn to his Jake. True, their first meeting at the joint Fukurodani Academy Group training camp in first year had been perhaps the tackiest, shittiest first meeting in the history of platonic soulmates and Bokuto had accidentally broken Kuroo's nose in one of their matches, but that very night after all the practice had ended, Bokuto had approached Kuroo, hand outstretched and a peace offering of grilled salted mackerel pike in the other in a gesture of friendship. Touched, Kuroo accepted the plate and from that moment the two of them were the memest memes there ever were (to be fair an Oikawa Tooru of Aoba Johsai once argued in second year that his teammates "Mattsun and Makki" were "memerer" than he and Bo, but Oikawa was no good judge of memers and so that comment was dismissed airily with a wave of a hand and a  ~~not-so~~  accidental slap to the pretty boy's face).  

Kuroo had never considered himself straight. Actually, he had never really considered himself anything-sexual. He was a relatively chill guy - girl, guy, trans, ace, human, alien - he was fine with everything. So when Bokuto came out to him as bisexual in the middle of first year as the two were chilling at Bokuto's house, Kuroo, who was calmly flipping through a Chinese food pamphlet, put it down without batting an eyelid, looked at him gravely and replied, "I was going to suggest ordering food but I see now you’d prefer to eat out", earning himself a whack in the face with the aforementioned Chinese food pamphlet and a nasty fall off the bed onto the floor, courtesy of Bokuto's foot. That instance, coincidentally, was the very same milestone in their history in which Bokuto had the wonderful idea of suggesting that the two becoming zucchinis. Kuroo had his suspicions about the offer; knowledgeable as he was in the ways of the LGBT community (assuming that a "zucchini" belonged in the thesaurus of LGBT-related glossary), he wasn't omniscient and the only zucchini he had heard of was the wannabe cucumber that was actually a baby pumpkin or so he'd heard, which, after six years, he still found impossible to accept.

"What's that?" 

"It's basically to date, but as bros."

"Oh. Cool."

And with that simple, heartfelt exchange of words, Kuroo Tetsurou and Bokuto Koutarou earned themselves a platonic boyfriend and started going out "as bros". If people confessed to them, they said they were in a relationship (after all, it _was_ a relationship, albeit a platonic one). If shady strange people hit on them when they were hanging out at the malls, the other stepped in with a very conspicuously-crooned “gee babe, you know this fellow?” or a very convincing rendition of “touch my man and Imma fuck you up”. If anyone who received the reply “sorry I’m in a relationship” or “sorry I’m taken” had the common sense to question the legitimacy (read: the romantic status) of that relationship, of course, they replied that they were simply platonically dating and were strictly bros; fortunately for them, many people were lacking in that common sense, and so it became a popular topic of Fukurodani and Nekoma to discuss the BoKuroo relationship that floated around, and frankly speaking it was hilarious to hear people talk about how Bokuto and Kuroo were cute together, though the topic of who topped was rather disturbing.

It would have saved them the trouble of getting into a relationship they didn’t want to, or being confessed to by whiny, obsessive girls or shady, pedophilic guys, so that they could focus on their studies and get into university.

Unfortunately, Bokuto was the first of the two to fall in their second year.

Cue the volleyball tryouts. Cue the entrance of the deuteragonist’s love interest. Cue the flawless complexion, hot-as-balls body, notably disinterested, strong-and-silent slate-grey eyes and unfairly-pretty face that exceeded even that of Oikawa’s. Cue the choking SFX, water spurting out of Bokuto’s nostrils, followed by his frantic hacks and coughs as a fellow team member slaps his back.

Akaashi Keiji was hot. Super, duper, mega, fucking hot.

“I’m in love,” Bokuto breathed five hours later into the microphone, smiling stupidly as he gazed dreamily up at his ceiling.

“I swear to god if this is about Hijikata Toshizo – “

“You don’t understand, Kubro,” Bokuto interrupted desperately. “He’s – he’s so _beautiful!_ His eyes are like fifty shades of beautiful slate-grey and his _face_ is just so prettyyyyyyyyyy – “ He produced a noise that sounded like a cross between a squawk and a guttural choke.

“Okay, okay.” Kuroo held up both his hands on the other side of the screen, doing his best not to scrunch up his face in disgust. Bokuto often had moments like this whenever he fanboyed over his favourite characters, namely Hijikata Toshizo, Sakata Gintoki and, for some unknown reason, Saitama. “You literally just met him today. How can you be so sure you’re in love with him? Anyway, didn’t you say the same thing about Oikawa – “

“EW NO.” There was a loud smack as Bokuto slammed both his hands down on his table and stuck his face into the camera, his googly golden eyes filling Kuroo’s screen and making the latter lean back, nearly toppling out of his chair. “I never said I was in _love_ with Oikawa! I mean, I thought he was pretty - until he opened his mouth.”

There was a noise from Kuroo’s end faintly resemblant of a quiet chortle-sneeze, followed by a soft “until he opened his mouth”.

“Okay, dude,” Bokuto continued, ignoring Kenma on the other side, “he’s literally the prettiest person okay. I’m not kidding. He has this absolutely amazing resting bitch face – “

“Can’t be any better than Kenma’s, can it?”

“ – shut up, it _is_ – and like his eyes are like fifty shades of slate-grey okay I swear – and he looked at me! And I was like ‘hi welcome to the volleyball tryouts’ and he was like ‘thank you’ and he _smiled!_ And he has like the sweetest smile okay? Like, it’s like the moon and it’s all glowy but the light is radiant and fucking peaceful to look at – “

“Just talk to him,” Kenma’s voice garbled, a hint of his blonde locks appearing in the bottom left corner of the screen as he raised his head slightly.

“Just talk to him,” Kuroo repeated. “Let us know about your boyfriend and keep us updated. Oh by the way, Kenma was accepted into the team. He’s setter again.”

“I’ll talk to him!” Bokuto echoed cheerily, taking that as his cue to end the call, log off and do his maths homework.

Talk to him he did, but it wasn’t for another two weeks until the mysterious, beautiful boy, whom Bokuto later found to be called Akaashi Keiji, was accepted onto the Fukurodani team. Talking to Akaashi proved to be much easier than Bokuto had anticipated, with less of the stuttering and blubbering than what he had envisioned. Bokuto was extremely boisterous, and Akaashi took it upon himself to keep an eye out for him. It was “embarrassing for a kouhai to have to babysit his senpai”, the coach pointed out, but Bokuto really didn’t give a flying fuck if it meant getting to spend time with Akaashi, and the two of them became best friends within the first week of Akaashi’s admission into the team – at least, for Bokuto’s part.

“Dude, he’s literally so nice okay,” Bokuto gushed, lying upside down on his bed and sticking his face into the camera, laptop perched precariously upon a stack of textbooks on the floor. “Like the other day he packed me a bento? I mean I feel kind of bad but he said his mom wanted to make me a bento and stuff so I had like two bentos that day and I got a stomachache and stuff but it fine. Also speaking of fine he has like the nicest ass I’ve ever seen – “

There was a very loud cough on the other side of the camera.

“Why is Kenma always over at your house whenever I skype you?”

“We’re at Kenma’s house,” Kuroo corrected.

“Are you sure you two aren’t dating?” Bokuto asked suspiciously. “You two are literally together all the time. Like everyday you’re either at his house or he’s at yours.”

“Bro, I’m dating you remember? I’m hurt that you forgot our relationship; and here we were reaching our half-year anniversary.  Also no offense but you’re starting to get really annoying.”

“Bitch you wait until _your_ sorry ass finds a hot guy you like – “

“Your mother _did_ vow that you’d find your soulmate before I found mine,” Kenma contributed helpfully, choosing to interrupt at that moment.

Kuroo _did_ find his hunk of hotness, but it wasn’t until a year of Bokuto’s continuous pining (which had grown even worse after that day), constant friendzoning and platonic dating that his soulmate appeared, in the form of a slender boy two years his junior from Karasuno High, with glasses, a decidedly attractive face and a snarky, sharp-tongued demeanour.

 _Bro im gay,_ Kuroo texted Bokuto immediately after the umpteenth Nekoma-Karasuno practice match.

 _i thought you said you were pan bro,_ was Bokuto’s immediate response not 3.14 seconds later.

_Nono like im gay for this one guy from Karasuno_

_karasuno as in the bird school_

_“The bird school” lMAO and yes i mean the bird school_

_SEE i told you yo bitch ass would fall in love_

_so whos the man_

_Hes tall and hot_

_honey you’re going to have to be a little more specific_

Kuroo snorted.

_Middle blocker my height saltier than oikawa_

There was a minute’s pause, then Bokuto replied, _saltier than oikawa is saying something omg go talk to him now sHUSH akaashis teaching me chemistry_

 _R. O. O. D._  With that, knowing that Bo probably didn’t want to be interrupted in the middle of his “study session” with Akaashi, Kuroo locked his phone and dropped it in his bag.

Both teams’ players were acquainting themselves now that the matches had ended and there was no need for unnecessary competitiveness.

“Fukunaga, mop over there for me,” he called lazily, pointing at the furthest corner of the gym, asking Yaku to pass him one. A few metres away, Kenma scurried off to his bag, Karasuno’s first year setter (whom he recognised as the infamous King of the Court) fixating his childhood friend with a comedically-ominous look and mumbling under his breath as if chanting an incantation to strike Kenma down. Out of the corner of his eye, Inuoka and the orange-haired first-year from Karasuno were jumping up and down like little children. His heart skipped a beat as he realised that the delectable first-year middle blocker was literally a metre away from him, arms folded and staring confusedly at the pair of excited first-years.

“What the heck are they doing?” he murmured.

“They don’t sound like high-schoolers,” Kuroo chipped in, taking that as his cue to jump in with his manly hot vibes to hopefully seduce the kid and quite possibly get his number. “But you, on the other hand - maybe _you_ should go a little crazy, like a high-schooler.” He flashed the blonde a flirtatious smile ( ~~at least, he _hoped_ it looked flirtatious; he was mostly taking inspiration from Oikawa~~).

The first-year eyed him balefully, then turned his gaze away ~~and holy shit, was that a very very very faint tinge of light pink on his cheeks?~~

“I’m not good at that sort of thing,” he replied nonchalantly, and walked off, and Kuroo couldn’t help but grin slightly after him.

“Ah, youth,” he said in a would-be wistful tone.

“You sound old,” Kenma remarked, sidling up to him.

“I _am_ old, Kenma.”

“You’re literally less than eleven months older than me.”

“It’s a figure of speech – never mind.” Kuroo turned and gazed at the blonde boy, who was taking down the volleyball nets with another boy, who had a shocking abundance of freckles. Vaguely, he heard a “shut up Yamaguchi” from the former, followed by a cheerful “sorry Tsukki!” from his partner.

“So his name is ‘Tsukki”,” he mumbled. “Well, his hair’s yellow like the moon – “

“The moon isn’t yellow, Kuroo.”

Goddammit. He forgot that Kenma was still next to him. The smaller boy nodded slightly at “Tsukki”. “So he’s your boyfriend, huh.”

“We literally met like two hours ago, Kenma.”

“Boyfriend _-to-be_.”

Kuroo facepalmed. Witty as he was, Kenma _always_ had the last word.

“If I can even talk to him.”

“Kuroo, you literally opened your mouth and told him to get a life without stuttering.”

“But Kenma he’s got more sodium chloride than Oikawa.”

“I’ve got more sodium chloride in me than anyone else and you’ve been hauling my ass around for like ten years.”

Kuroo stared. Kenma never talked this much, and he certainly didn’t say “hauling my ass”.

“Kenma are you in your time of the year?”

Kenma shrugged, and turned to follow Kuroo’s gaze. “Just ask him for his number first. But don’t use any of those disgusting pick-up lines.”

“Gee, conventional advice from a conventional forever-aloner. Thanks.” That day was truly a historical moment. In one day, he had met a hot guy, talked to him _and_ heard Kenma use the phrase “hauling my ass”. It was almost as if he had finally gotten Kenma to dab. And, well, here was his childhood best friend, playing the part of love guru despite not having the slightest idea about romance and matchmaking him. He cleared his throat, shaking his head to rid it of the sudden wave of lowkey sentimentality that had struck him.

“You’re welcome. Now move, you’re in the way.”

“Excuse you I _am_ the way.”

Kenma sought out the nearest wall and solicited its hard cement structure to slam his head against.


	2. "I suffer for naught"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akaashi Keiji believed in love.
> 
> To be more specific, he believed in unrequited love - seeing that he had first-hand witnessed and experienced it.
> 
> Like every other normal student, Akaashi had not been prepared for his first day of high school even though he had, like every other normal student, gone through his first days of nursery, kindergarten, elementary and middle schools. It was of course natural and perfectly excusable that he had entered Fukurodani's compounds with a bout of butterflies in his stomach - scratch that - fucking wasps stinging and jabbing obnoxiously at every inch of his stomach. He wasn't diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, but he was a tad bit more insecure than the average sixteen-year-old teenage boy. Would he fit in? Was he too tall? Would he make friends? Did this tie make him look fat?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello i'm back from the depths of despair
> 
> I'm really sorry I took so long to finish this because I've had visiting relatives and had to go overseas for a competition, plus exam season is starting so I probably won't be as active. I've also been sick lately, so I wasn't able to complete this chapter. I'm really grateful that you've stuck around despite my inconsistent updates, and I do hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Akaashi Keiji believed in love.

To be more specific, he believed in  _unrequited love_ \- seeing that he had first-hand witnessed  _and_ experienced it.

Like every other normal student, Akaashi had  _not_ been prepared for his first day of high school even though he had, like every other normal student, gone through his first days of nursery, kindergarten, elementary and middle schools. It was of course natural and perfectly excusable that he had entered Fukurodani's compounds with a bout of butterflies in his stomach - scratch that -  _fucking wasps stinging and jabbing obnoxiously at every inch of his stomach_. He wasn't diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, but he  _was_ a tad bit more insecure than the average sixteen-year-old teenage boy. Would he fit in? Was he too tall? Would he make friends? Did this tie make him look fat?

It did absolutely nothing to help that the first day of school coincided with April Fool's Day and that he was hit full in the face with lemon pie (well it wasn't his "assaulter's" fault, he had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, he assured himself), or that his new deskmate simply clapped his back, squeezed his shoulder and, in the gravest tone, replied that "when life gives you lemons, make lemon pie". It did even less to calm his nerves that on the first day (like couldn't they have waited until next week or something?) the principal called the boys' volleyball club up on stage to congratulate them for having made top four in the spring high national tournament, and that the senior on the furthest left, with his ridiculous gelled-up (he assumed), salt-and-pepper fifty-shades-of-grey-and-one-shade-of-black hair ~~and delicious thighs~~ was very,  _very_ hot.

It was times like this that Akaashi resented having retained perfect 2.0 visual acuity. Had he been myopic, he probably wouldn't have been able to see the senior from where he was standing, since, at 179cm, he held the title of third-tallest boy in his class and was positioned near the back of the hall. Unfortunately, he could see each and every detail of every volleyball club member standing on the stage.

 _Lord help me_ , he thought.  _Perhaps I should start following Oha Asa_.

The handsome volleyball senior was the reason why he had signed up for the volleyball club. He had even gotten to talk to his newfound crush, and, in one hour or so of volleyball tryouts and observation, quickly discovered that Bokuto Koutarou, as he was named, was, despite only being a second-year, the ace of the club, and ranked well among the top ten aces in Japan. Two weeks later, as a recently-inducted new member on the Fukurodani team, Akaashi learned that Bokuto was also apparently not as cool as he had initially envisioned, and his "motherly vibes" (as a cousin of his had once so-helpfully pointed out) instantly took it upon him to become Bokuto's closest companion in and out of volleyball, following him around and making sure he didn't sit in spilt chocolate milk, tear up his maths homework and throw it in the bin having mistaken it for rough foolscap paper or stop to pet every single cat, dog, pigeon, rat, etc. on the way to school and risk barging into class at nine-thirty in the morning. Spending all his time chasing after the boisterous, surprisingly immature senior to ensure he didn't do anything to humiliate himself in public somehow instilled confidence in him and helped boost his self-esteem and morale, and by second year Akaashi, while still a relatively introverted person, no longer had any qualms calling Bokuto (or anyone else fooling around) out, and over time, his small crush on Bokuto grew into what was undeniably love. 

Now, Akaashi initially never believed in the red string theory. However, he had never wished so desperately that the virtual scarlet thread had flashed into sight the moment he and Bokuto had acquainted themselves - or perhaps there was a chance that it came late? They weren't even platonic soulmates - no yellow string had shimmered and appeared when they had met either. Besides, there was no way that Bokuto would ever reciprocate his feelings. For one, he was popular in school. Despite his rowdy and occasionally-foolish tendencies, he was well-liked by everyone in the school and always knew how to bring a smile to anyone's face. There was no way he'd pay special attention to Akaashi - other than that of "babysitter" and "mom", as Konoha once dubbed him. 

For another thing, Bokuto was probably already taken.

Two things that Akaashi Keiji learned from attending training camps with other schools was that (a) volleyball players loved to gossip and (b) gossip spread really, really fucking fast  ~~courtesy of the king of gossip Kuroo Tetsurou~~. Rumour had it that Bokuto and Kuroo were boyfriends, since they were often seen hanging out together, shamelessly flirting (if "listen to this song for you bro" "bro  _you_ are music to my ears" "bro" followed by overexaggerated clasps of their chests and melodramatic hugs counted) and one of the Nekoma second-years had allegedly seen Bokuto defend Kuroo from some girl who flirted with the latter with "hands off my boyfriend bitch".

Initially, Akaashi had had his suspicions about the legitimacy of this claim. As Bokuto's closest friend (or so he considered himself), surely his senpai would have told him if he had a boyfriend. But then again, who was he to demand knowledge of all of Bokuto's secrets? 

Evidently, Kuroo Tetsurou.

"Akaashi! I'm beat!" Bokuto whined as the two of them walked home from practice one night. "I'm thirsty too!"

"You have your own water bottle, Bokuto-san," Akaashi replied, dragging his legs slightly as they trudged down the street back home. 

"But I've no more water!"

"You should have refilled it earlier then."

"Can't I have some of yours?"

"I'm saliva-conscious, Bokuto-san."

Bokuto let out a long-drawn moan and rubbed his head with one hand, his other one rapidly flapping his jersey in and out in an attempt to fan himself and get rid of the sweat coating his chest and sticking his shirt to his skin. The two of them walked on quietly for a few more minutes, the silence occasionally punctuated with an unnecessarily loud pant and mumbles of “I’m dying of water”, “thirteen years off my life” and “it’s been eighty-seven years” until eventually Akaashi couldn’t take it.

“Here,” he said wearily, holding out his water bottle to Bokuto. “But for goodness’ sake please pour it into your mo – “

Bokuto had already given a hoarse cry and unscrewed the cover, and was sucking the edge of the bottle’s mouth in a way that vaguely reminded Akaashi of his newborn niece suckling from her mother. Not for the first time since the Fukurodani-Nekoma training camp where he had met Kuroo, he questioned his sanity and wondered how his pure innocent mind had even let itself be tainted by Kuroo and Bokuto's uncouth words and sexual innuendos.

"Bokuto-san," Akaashi said after a period of silence, "do you have anyone that you like?"

"Well, of course I like everyone!" Bokuto chirped. "And everyone likes me!"

Goddammit. Akaashi closed his eyes briefly, sending a silent prayer to whichever deity oversaw tolerating bullshit and patience, and wondered why two years knowing Bokuto hadn't taught him to be more specific with his questions.

"I mean," he continued, "are you romantically interested it anyone at the moment? Are you in a relationship of any sort?"

"Sure, I'm dating Kuroo."

Bokuto started to whistle a tune, marching down the road and leaving a dejected Akaashi behind him. So he  _was_ dating Kuroo after all. Sagittarius had placed last in Oha Asa and despite his desperate attempt to hunt down a stuffed rufous-legged owl (whatever that was) and wrestling with his little brother for the long red ribbon that his girlfriend had supposedly gifted him, Bokuto Koutarou was dating Kuroo Tetsurou and most certainly did  _not_ reciprocate his feelings.

Somewhere ahead of him, there was a loud screech and the sound of squelching and falling. Bokuto had fallen into another mud puddle, and Akaashi sighed.

"I suffer for naught," he muttered, and walked down the road to rescue his charge.

* * *

_Kenma-kun_

_I need your help_

_yeah?_

_Is Kuroo-san dating anyone_

_uhh_

_let me get back to you_

Akaashi sat with his legs crossed on his bed, ignoring his brother's snores above his head as he fiddled with his fingers and waited for Kenma's answer.

_he says hes dating bokuto_

_y?_

Akaashi sighed. If Kenma said Kuroo was dating Bokuto, then it had to be true. Kenma never joked around with these kind of things.

_im sorry_

Confused, Akaashi texted him back.

_Why?_

_you like kuroo don't you_

Somewhere above his head, Jirou snorted for him.

_Wtf no_

_What makes you think I'd like pain-in-the-ass-Kuroo-san_

_jkjk i noe you like bokuto_

_even tho hes just as bad as kuroo tbh_

Akaashi sighed. It wasn't like Kenma to forget things easily, so he wondered if something was wrong, considering that Kenma was literally the only one who knew about his feelings for Bokuto. He turned back to his phone as it vibrated, signalling incoming messages.

_okay but just saying_

_things arent always as they seem_

_you should ask bokuto out_

_i mean, it doesn't hurt to try_

Akaashi stared, confused, at the screen, then hit the call button, moving out of his bed into the toilet.

"I thought you said Kuroo-san and Bokuto-san were dating," he said.

"I said they're in a relationship."

"Same thing." Akaashi paused, wondering which of the many questions floating around in his head he should ask first. "How long have they been together?"

"Two years?" Akaashi could almost hear the shrug in Kenma's voice. "They got together in like the middle of first year, so - "

"They must really be in love."

"Not really."

There was a pause, and Akaashi listened to the video game music in the background from Kenma's side.

"You should ask him out," Kenma suddenly said, and Akaashi started. He had almost forgotten that Kenma was still on the line.

"What's the point? I'll be rejected. I mean, they've been together for two years -"

"I heard the passion of love dies down in that period of time, so they could break up for all you know."

"Since when were you such a love guru?"

Kenma sighed.

"How else do you think I get around with Kuroo?"

He had a point. Not for the first time that day, Akaashi questioned his ability to ask specific questions.

"Anyway," Kenma continued, "just go for it. You never know...he might consider dating you."

"Yeah. Thanks. Real specific."

"I have to go now. Kuroo's calling me." With that, the line disconnected and Akaashi turned his phone off. He sat down on the toilet bowl, thinking about what Kenma said. What  _was_ the difference between dating and relationships? He had always considered the two to be synonymical - well, he didn't have experience in dating, so he really didn't know anything about love and the sort, since the only "exposure" to love he got was in middle school when some girl from the class next door confessed to him and he was so shook that he said "no" before she even finished and then ran off in embarrassment and humiliation. 

There was a knock on the door at that moment, startling Akaashi.

"You taking a shit in there or something?"

"Yeah," Akaashi replied sarcastically. Sometimes, Jirou reminded him so much of Kuroo and Bokuto that it was a wonder that he was  _his_ brother and not Kuroo's or Bokuto's.

"You've been in there for, like, ten minutes. Do you have hemorrhoids or something?"

"I'm telling mom." Tired, lovesick and dejected, Akaashi really didn't have anything witty to retaliate to his younger brother with at the moment.

"I'm opening the door - " The door handle started to turn slowly, and it was at that moment that Akaashi realised he hadn't locked the door, and he hastily turned the knob back, quickly pulling up his pyjamas, flushing the toilet and thrusting his hands under the running water before letting him in.

"You have no sense of consideration," he told Jirou as the latter stuck his tongue out at him and closed the door. And as Akaashi went back to his bed, he wondered vaguely why the expression Jirou pulled reminded him so much of Bokuto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I noticed this story isn't getting as many reads as TRST did. I'm really sorry if you didn't enjoy the previous chapter as much as the previous story, and I'll do my best to maintain the memes and humour that I feel TRST captured. I hope this chapter keeps up with the previous ones! If there is anything you feel I could work on, please feel free to state it in the comments (however, I am a fragile-hearted being even more breakable than Asahi so please comment nicely and not blatantly insult anyone else!)
> 
> I'm also aware that there is significantly less emphasis placed on the red and yellow strings, but they're still essential to the plot! I'd already pretty much made my point with the red string theory in the first fic, and the yellow string theory works the same except with platonic feelings rather than romantic ones, so I didn't really feel the need to focus as much on them. However, if there are any doubts regarding any of these theories, please leave a comment and I'll do my best to clarify! (If need be, I can post a chapter on how the different theories work in this universe.)
> 
> Unfortunately, I won't be able to update as frequently. I'll finish this story as soon as I can, but afterwards I can't guarantee that the third story will be up as quickly though. I have an idea of who the primary ship(s) will be in the third story, though, so if you enjoyed TRST, rest assured that our dear memelords will be making their comeback.
> 
> On a side note, The Red String Theory has passed 1000 hits! Thank you so much for supporting TRST series and for following my works even though there are so many better fics out there than mine! I'll do my best to update as soon as possible with the next two chapters of TYST and I hope you'll continue to support me ahead!
> 
> -kogimika53


	3. Two love cases to handle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having had excessive concern over what his peers thought of him since he was young, Kenma's sharp observational skills had no problems picking out that, contrary to what Akaashi believed, Bokuto was very much in love with Akaashi just as the latter was with the former. While Akaashi didn't seem like the pining type, literally 87% of their conversations involved Bokuto one way or another. The matter on Bokuto's side was much plainer and one didn't need sharp observational skills to tell that the "salt-and-pepper fifty-shades-of-grey-and-one-shade-of-black hair" boy (as Akaashi had once called him) was clearly very romantically gay for Akaashi. With Akaashi pining over Bokuto, the former under the false impression that the latter was romantically dating Kuroo when in reality the two absurdly-hairstyled boys were just in a very platonically gay relationship, Kenma felt like he was the reader of a very conventionally-written shoujo manga and it frankly pissed him off that his two friends were so blur that they couldn't see through the thick filter of insecurity obscuring the other's very obvious love for them. As such, Kenma took it upon himself to become the wingman of the pair and put an end to this ridiculous case.

Kozume Kenma had known since young that he wasn't destined to find his romantic soulmate - or, at least, he had  _assumed_  so. From a young age he had already decided that he was very asexual and pretty much either aromantic, greyromantic or demiromantic, and neither anticipated nor eagerly awaited the manifestation of his red string. Of course, he had two yellow strings, one with Kuroo, and one with Akaashi Keiji; he was cool with platonic soulmates, so long as they left him alone when he wanted to.

As such, under normal circumstances he should never have had to become so deeply-involved in the red string theory, but frankly with Kuroo as his childhood best friend he honestly wasn't all that surprised that he had inadvertently been assigned the role of love guru in the fucked up series of unfortunate events that was unfolding before him. His platonic soulmate, pining for his other platonic soulmate's  _other_  platonic soulmate, was under the impression that  _his_  other platonic soulmate and  _his_ other platonic soulmate were romantically-involved, and running that through his head, it was nearly as baffling as the "James, while John had had ' _had_ ', had had ' _had_ had'. ' _Had_ had' had had a better effect on the teacher" textpost he'd seen on Tumblr.

" _I'm not good with people, and I don't want to interact with them. And yet I'm very concerned about what others think about me_ ".

That was his unofficial motto in life. Having had excessive concern over what his peers thought of him since he was young, Kenma's sharp observational skills had no problems picking out that, contrary to what Akaashi believed, Bokuto was very much in love with Akaashi just as the latter was with the former. While Akaashi didn't seem like the pining type, literally 87% of their conversations, be it verbal or online, involved Bokuto one way or another. The matter on Bokuto's side was much plainer and one didn't need sharp observational skills to tell that the "salt-and-pepper fifty-shades-of-grey-and-one-shade-of-black hair" boy (as Akaashi had once called him) was clearly very romantically gay for Akaashi.  With Akaashi pining over Bokuto, the former under the false impression that the latter was romantically dating Kuroo when in reality the two absurdly-hairstyled boys were just in a very platonically gay relationship, Kenma felt like he was the reader of a very conventionally-written shoujo manga and it frankly pissed him off that his two friends were so blur that they couldn't see through the thick filter of insecurity obscuring the other's very obvious love for them. As such, as much as he really would have spent his time playing the Legend of Zelda and games of the sort, Kenma took it upon himself to become the wingman of the pair and put an end to this ridiculous case.

_do you have any tips on getting someone to ask the person he likes out?_

Kenma's phone vibrated as the incoming text message from Hinata appeared on his screen. Hinata and Kenma had grown to be close friends off the volleyball court after the Karasuno-Nekoma practice match. Confused at the sudden question, Kenma texted back.

_sb on your team in love with sb else?_

_tsukishima_

_who's tsukishima_

_tall, blond and gorgeous with extra salt_

Kenma snorted at the McDonald's reference. Vaguely, he remembered that Kuroo had developed a crush on the blond first-year during the practice match, and wondered if there was a chance that Tsukishima reciprocated Kuroo's feelings.

 _i've got a love case to handle too lol_ , he replied.

_OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH_

_WHO ISSIT_

_WHO ISSIT_

_WHO ISSIT_

_shouyou chill you don't even know them_

As he sent the message, it struck him that there was going to be a joint training camp with the Fukurodani Academy Group training camp and Karasuno, and that Hinata would probably get to know Bokuto and Akaashi. He also realised that that would be a great time to resolve the whole issue and get Bokuto and Akaashi to admit their feelings, even if it meant shoving breadsticks up their asses to force them to confess.

On second thought, that sounded disgusting. Kenma discarded the thought and turned back to his phone.

 _actually i think you'll meet them at the training camp_ , he sent.  _who does tsukishima like?_

_i have NO idea but i bet it's the black-haired guy from your team_

For a terrible moment, Kenma wondered if Tsukishima was interested in  _him_ , but then he slapped himself.

_shouyou there are like four black-haired guys on our team you gotta be more specific_

_hes tall_

_again, three people._ Kenma wished Hinata would be more specific.

_he has shit hair_

Kenma actually set his phone down to catch his breath. He hadn't choked on his saliva from laughing in a long time, he thought as he screenshotted the message and forwarded it to Kuroo, snickering "shit hair" under his breath.

_ah so you think he likes kuroo?_

_YEAH YEAH HIM THE SHIT HAIR_

_honestly i can't stand it but dont tell him pls_

Again, Kenma turned to the side to cough and send the screenshot to Kuroo. The beginnings of an idea were slowly forming in his mind as he asked Hinata how the latter knew that Tsukishima was interested in Kuroo.

"Blushing lightly, anal when Kuroo is brought up, Kuroo being the only one whose name he remembered from the practice match - " Kenma mumbled incoherently to himself as he scrolled through the messages Hinata sent him. There was a possibility that Tsukishima was mildly attracted to Kuroo, but most of the "evidence" Hinata had provided just made it seem like he simply disliked him. Realising he would need to take further measures to confirm his suspicions, in a rare moment of out-of-character-ness Kenma asked Hinata for Tsukishima's number, murmuring "two love cases to handle".

_is this tsukishima?_

_Sorry who is this_

_im kozume from nekoma_

_are you free atm?_

"One down, one to go," Kenma murmured absently as he walked into the gymnasium with the rest of the Nekoma team.

"Your game?" Kuroo asked, and Kenma looked up at him.

"Mm," he hummed after a while. From behind Kuroo, he scanned the gymnasium for any sign of Fukurodani, and sighed with relief when he saw Bokuto and Akaashi in the corner squabbling. Two nights before Akaashi had texted him about having the flu and Kenma had been worried that Akaashi wouldn't be able to make it. Through the doors on the side, Karasuno made their entrance as well, though Kenma noticed that Hinata and his other friend didn't seem to be present. Next to him, he heard Kuroo draw in a sharp breath as Tsukishima passed.

"He's so pretty," he murmured, and Kenma gave his best friend a baleful look.

"I will actually cry if you use any more chemistry pick-up lines on him Kuroo," he mumbled.

"KUBRUH"

Kuroo stopped in his tracks. His body shook, and he dropped his bag. For a moment Kenma wondered if an epileptic fit had seized Kuroo, but then he bellowed "BROKUTO" and started sprinting towards Bokuto, who was practically galloping towards him from the other side of the gymnasium. Amidst the "KUBRUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"S and "BROKUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"s Kenma saw Tsukishima push his glasses up and hurry away.

"IT'S BEEN EIGHTY-SEVEN YEARS I SWEAR"

"YOUR HAIR HAS BECOME EVEN MORE LUSCIOUS"

"THE CAMP HASN'T EVEN BEGUN AND YOU'RE SWEATING GROSS"

"THIS IS MY MANLY ESSENCE YOU UNCULTURED SWINE - "

“You should have gone home,” Kenma remarked as Akaashi trudged to his side wearily.

“I should have gone to Shiratorizawa,” Akaashi said sadly, shaking his head and crossing his arms as the two of them watched their respective captains jab at each other with non-malicious insults.

“Akaashi!” Bokuto broke apart from Kuroo and turned to Akaashi with a hurt look on his face, and Kenma swore he saw a tear in the corner of his left eye. “Am I not good enough for you just because I’m not in the top three – “

 “Dude your hair has gotten spikier than normal,” Kuroo commented, pulling Bokuto back towards him. “Did you use more gel than normal?”

“I told you my hair is natural!” Bokuto protested. “Besides,” he continued, pulling Kuroo’s hair much to the other’s annoyance, “I’m pretty sure that sleeping with two pillows pressed against your hair each night does _not_ give you this quality of hair.”

“You know who got that quality hair bruh? _Me_.” Kuroo jabbed a finger at himself as he said “me” at the very same time that Bokuto threw in “alien hoe”, and assumed a expression of disgust and betrayal. “ _Me_ , an intellectual, not Oikawa Brokuto – “

“Oikawa wakes up at five in the goddamn morning to gel his hair for fuck’s sake,” Bokuto interrupted, as the four of them walked to the centre of the court and sat down, waiting for the coaches to start the briefing. “Also that statement is a grammatical error, coming from the ‘intellectual’; it’s actually ‘ _I_ , an intellectual’ – “

He turned to look at Kuroo smugly, but Kuroo had turned away from him to talk to Tsukishima animatedly, who had apparently been sitting next to him the whole time. While he did look somewhat taken aback, he did not seem to mind Kuroo’s company.

“Your grammar has improved spectacularly, considering that you failed your Japanese test a few weeks ago, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi commented wryly.

“It’s a meme though,” Kenma pointed out, “so his grammar could still be shit for all you know. He probably just saved that textpost into his collection of memes.”

“I most certainly did _not!_ ” Bokuto retorted. “Come on, back me up a little!” he yelled after Akaashi, but the latter had gotten up to round up the other Fukurodani team.

Kenma watched Bokuto enter one of his emo modes, raising an eyebrow as the latter rocked from side to side with a childish pout on his face. His eyes swivelled over to Kuroo, who had emitted one of his annoying hyena laughs and slapped Tsukishima hard on the back, causing the latter’s glasses to actually fly off his face. They were talking about heights, growth spurts and ideal growing-hours, whatever those meant. A few metres behind him, Brokuto – no, _Bokuto_ was talking about practising after dinner with Akaashi and Kuroo -

“That’s it!” Kenma said loudly, straightening up and pounding his right fist in his left palm in an uncharacteristic display of excitement. Kuroo, Tsukishima, Bokuto and Akaashi all stopped and turned to face him, and internally Kenma wanted to jump off the Tokyo Tower and die, but he didn’t have time to die so soon. He could get Tsukishima to join the other three for practise – the tall blonde could partner Kuroo against the other two – it would be both of the would-be couples together! At some point, Kenma was sure Kuroo would take Tsukishima to the side to tutor him on blocking – and it wouldn’t be random or suspicious at all, given that Kuroo was 1. the only middle blocker of the gang and 2. he was possibly the most well-versed in blocking and tactics of the sort. Tsukishima would definitely pick up a few useful tips _and_ a boyfriend too. For Bokuto and Akaashi  - well, he’d burn that bridge when he got to it.

“One down, one to go,” he murmured softly, the corners of his mouth crinkling upwards slightly as he opened his chat with Tsukishima to message him about the third gym squad.

"What game  _are_ you playing?" Kuroo asked curiously, leaning over slightly.

"Just a game of love," Kenma answered absently, turning back to his phone and leaving his childhood friend to ponder over his enigmatic words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sincerely apologise for the nine-month wait, and I understand if few of my readers have actually come back to read this latest chapter. Junior college is tough and I've got virtually no time at all but I do hope this was enjoyable nonetheless, and I apologise if the flow isn't exactly very smooth.
> 
> Last chapter of TYST will come soon! My life is a mess and I can't say I'm running on caffeine because I don't even drink coffee but oh well
> 
> \- kogimika53

**Author's Note:**

> When the time is right once every year for ten seconds Kenma will proffer his coarsest foulest language
> 
> If any of you caught the tumblr references I made bless you dears
> 
> I'm really sorry for the long wait, triple hell week hit me in the face like students gushing out of class when class ends like tap water when someone presses their finger to the tap but the water that manages to get through sprays out annoyingly and hits them straight in the face like life hit Hanamaki in the face with Matsukawa Issei and Oikawa Tooru; and I just got back from a choir competition.
> 
> Anyway, this is the first chapter of TYST for you. If you have any suggestions how to continue (because if you didn't notice I'm having a major existential crisis and severe writer's block), or found this shitty, feel free to leave comments below. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to update as frequently as I did before, but I'll do my best to update as soon as possible. Thank you for reading :)
> 
> \- kogimika53


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